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The in demand Watt-Roy has appeared live with Nick Cave and the Watt-Roy/Atzmon composed “Me, My Bass And I” was originally intended to feature a vocal from either Cave or Robert Wyatt.

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Other contributors include Atzmon, Harrison and Sirkis plus Zirilli on percussion and a brief cameo from Onnie Mcintyre on guitar. The title is effectively Mexican for “la, la, la” and there’s a breezy, infectious air of optimism about it. Watt-Roy’s percolating, funky bass line underpins the simple vocal harmonies sung by Orozco and her friends Jackeline Orozco-Gutierrez and Lorena Estevez-Vasquez. The first original tune, “Wachu-Wa”, was written by Watt-Roy and Atzmon with the vocal chants supplied by Watt-Roy’s Mexican girlfriend Lizette Orozco. The first section features liquid, lyrical Pastorius like bass, the second is a funky workout that demonstrates Watt-Roy’s way with a groove as he works in tandem with Sirkis behind Atzmon’s earthy sax and Harrison’s dirty Fender Rhodes. Watt-Roy and Atzmon pay homage to Jaco with their arrangement of his composition “John And Mary”, a great show case for Watt-Roy’s playing. Pastorius certainly described himself as such. It was inevitable that Watt-Roy should have become a fan of the late, great Jaco Pastorius, arguably the greatest electric bass player of them all. He has also been known to define the Blockheads as being “a jazz band with an audience”. An interesting treatment of a much loved classic, and is that really Dury’s sampled voice announcing Watt-Roy at the end?ĭespite his punk credentials Watt-Roy is a long time jazz enthusiast and cites Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane as musical heroes. Watt-Roy’s sleazy vocal is still Dury-esque but the music hall meets punk perkiness of the original is replaced by an air of desperation and regret, the atmospheric arrangement more Kurt Weill than Punk Britannia. Rearranged by Watt-Roy and Atzmon the tale of “Billericay Dickie” is slowed down and re-located to a ghostly jazz club. “Faith & Grace” represents a celebration of Watt-Roy’s life in music and what better place to start than with a song by his old boss, the incomparable Ian Dury. Guitarist Onnie Mcintyre of the Average White Band guests on one track and there’s also a vocal cameo from another Atzmon associate, singer and songwriter Sarah Gillespie. Most of Atzmon’s solo career has been broadly in the jazz camp and the personnel on Faith & Grace includes Atzmon’s regular associate Frank Harrison (keyboards) plus a rotating cast of drummers including Asaf Sirkis, Enzo Zirilli and the Blockheads’ Dylan Howe.

Having been coerced into helping his old Blockheads band-mate Atzmon has come up with what he regards as the best production job of his career, he also plays a variety of instruments and in many ways it’s as much his album as Watt-Roy’s. The Israeli born multi instrumentalist Gilad Atzmon moved to the UK in 1993 and has enjoyed a lengthy tenure with the Blockheads whilst simultaneously conducting a highly creative and prolific solo career as a musician, author, record producer and political activist. The album brings together the many facets of Watt-Roy’s career with help from a cast that includes many of the UK’s leading jazz musicians plus his old mucker Wilko Johnson. I’m not going to delve too deeply into Watt-Roy’s musical history during these introductory paragraphs because “Faith & Grace” is in effect a musical autobiography with producer Gilad Atzmon acting as Watt-Roy’s confidante and ghost writer.

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Although Watt-Roy has played on numerous records by these artists as well as enjoying a prolific career as a session musician “Faith & Grace” (rhymes with bass, geddit?) represents his first album as a leader which is pretty remarkable for an artist who has been a professional musician since 1967! The cover depicts a sketch of Watt-Roy by artist Peter Blake (of Sergeant Pepper fame) made in 1978 during the height of the fame of The Blockheads. Bass guitarist Norman Watt-Roy has become something of a cult figure thanks to his lengthy tenure with Ian Dury and The Blockheads plus his later involvement with the Wilko Johnson Band.